Our Day, Rainy Days
by Lyra Kamiya
Summary: *Happy V-day* Long ago, someone left who meant a lot to Rika... could he have possibly returned? *Jenki!*


As the only girl in a group of twelve that did NOT go to the Sweet Hearts dance, I have this to say: Twin sisters should NOT ask the boy their twin sis likes to Valentine dances, even if it is only as a friend. Even if you are only their twin sis for RP. Keli, you're a brat. Alright, anyway…  
Don't give me that look. Yes, I DID write essentially three Valentines fics. This is the only fic though, the other two are more or less just chapters of other fics… (looks at her pokémon one) eh forget I said that. Only the one that's chap 6 of Last Piece is like that.

****

Our Day, Rainy Days

__

Lyra Kamiya

It was a rainy Thursday morning. That was the problem with Shinjuku, it rained at times that it would be more logical for it to be snowing, like 7 on a February morning. But Rika Nonaka didn't mind… Snow, she didn't really like, unless it was already on the ground, the sky was still cloudy so there was no glare, and you could just look at the landscape. Sun, she didn't like because it made everything so… cheery. Cheery in general she didn't mind, but she just didn't appreciate people being happy when it was too hot to breathe outside. But rain, it was so refreshing. Cool, gentle, and it made everything so fresh afterwards. The perfect kind of weather.

Plus, it kept her mind off what today was.

Valentine's day. Why someone created a holiday to celebrate love, of all things, in the exact middle of the shortest and most desolate month of the year was beyond her. Or maybe… maybe it was just what was behind her. She could only think of one person she'd ever truly cared for. And he'd moved, over 2 years earlier, and hadn't been heard from except for one, return-address-less letter the year before. It all seemed terribly unlike him, but she'd seen his random short bursts of anger in the Digital world, and knew that honestly there was probably _nothing_ out of the ordinary about him.

Others asked, why she didn't forget about him and just date Ryo or Takato or someone completely new. Truth was, she knew she'd get angry with Takato's dense-ness too easily, and that she'd even tried dating Ryo at one point. But as they spent their entire date arguing over which of them was the better card player, that plan had been abandoned after one day.

No… She only truly liked one guy. She wouldn't ever give in to any other guys -- not that she liked any anyway -- until either he came back, or all 5 of the other Tamers that were her age were married. Then she might consider someone else… But her picture of a perfect yet actually plausible life for right now was just her and Renamon, living out by the sea.

She was inside the school now, and away from her precious rain. A plethora of red and pink decorations lined the halls annoyingly, and confetti still remained from the previous weekend's dance. As she approached her locker, sure enough, there was Jeri in a red dress, putting away everything in her locker. Her ever-present yellow D-arc added only a slight distraction from the bright outfit [A/N I don't know as of yet if he ever does come back so I'm assuming Leomon still-dead for now.] However, the static that had been on its screen for the past 3 and a half years continued to serve as a reminder and memorial of the past.

"G'morning, Rika," Jeri smiled cheerfully. "Look at the adorable Valentine Takato sent me. I saw another one in here, too," she motioned to the locker that they shared, "But it was addressed to you…"

"Don't mess with me, Jeri. I don't need you getting me sympathy Valentines."

"But I didn't. This was here when I got here…" she shrugged, pulling out an envelope from the bottom of the locker.

Rika stared between Jeri and the plain white envelope skeptically for a moment, then shrugged and took the slip. She ripped the envelope open and took out the card… and almost stopped breathing. A blank card, except for an obviously hand-made doodle of Calumon drawing a heart on the cover, and perfect handwritten print on the inside.

"Rika,

Thought you'd like to know that I still think of you after all this time.

Love forever,

Guess…"

"This better not be Kazu's cheep excuse for a joke…" Rika snarled suddenly. She was hoping the best, as the tears in her eyes revealed, but of course planning for the worst. If it was one of Kazu's jokes, she knew exactly when he would've gotten it from… two cracks he'd made in the digital world, both clearly serious but still ignored by her, about how pretty he thought she was. Either that or Takato'd come up with it, because of his "dream girl" joke when they'd first met. Or perhaps Ryo, since it'd been over a year and a half since they'd dated. Who was she kidding, half the male Digimon playing population of Japan had crushes on her purely because she was the Digimon Queen… Now officially tied for first after her rematch with Ryo, instead of the honorary first and actual she'd been in because of his previous disappearance.

"Rika? Are you alright, you look like you're going to cry…?"

"Yes, fine. I don't have an umbrella, so it's just that the rain got in my eyes."

"Oh… well, you'll end up sick and missing school again like you did yesterday if you don't get one soon…"

"That's ok, I like the rain," Rika shrugged.

"Too bad you weren't here. You'd never guess who's back-" Jeri suddenly stopped, shook her head, and continued, obviously a little shaken. "-I mean, coming back, in a few episodes, on the season they've got on right now…"

"Who," Rika groaned. Season 7 of Digimon was just ending, it being a 03 to connect in with seasons one and two, since so many people had whined about everything about 02's ending except the little TK, though even that had a few objections from Daisukeru lovers, etc.

"Michael!" Jeri squealed hyperly, causing Rika to wince and raise her hands towards her ears.

"Jeri, I hate to break it to you… but he was back two episodes ago, too…"

For a brief moment, Jeri had the look of a deer caught in the headlights or of a character in a movie who's trying to come to terms with the fact that their best friend just shot them in the stomach. Then the look turned to one of horror. "The one I _missed_?!" she panicked quite convincingly.

"Yes, deary. Sorry…" Rika said in the sarcastic tone of voice she always used when she was teasing the girl by lying to her. She sighed heavily and stared out the window into the rain.

"He'd be turning 15 in…"

"13 days," Rika completed, knowing that Jeri had realized her train of thought and was trying to be sympathetic.

"Well then… We'll have to bake him a cake."

"What?!"

"That's right, we'll make a cake and feed it to Guilmon, just because as long as I'm helping it probably won't be fit for human consumption, and pretend that we had this huge party for him and EVERYTHING!" Jeri squealed happily, spinning around with glee at her idea and watching Rika's face patiently for any sign that she was equally happy with the idea.

"You didn't like my Valentine _that_ much, did you…" Takato said, shaking his head in mock disbelief as he walked up behind Jeri.

"Aren't you a little two old for pretend?" Ryo asked, having heard their conversation. Alice quietly came up and placed her head on his shoulder, laughing with only a smile at his joke.

"Don't be silly, Takato, of course I loved your Valentine!" Jeri smiled, hugging Takato forcefully enough to almost knock him over, a look of alarm spread over his face for a moment, then he grinned and spun her around lightly. Grinning as close to both innocently and evilly at the same time as possible, he then pulled Jeri off into a nearby deserted classroom.

The others sweatdropped, knowing that the two would get caught and given detention for "improper use of a classroom" yet again, and headed off into their own classroom.

**********

Rika stared out into the rain, listening to its gentle sprinkle and hoping it would drown out the teacher. Not that it was the teacher that was bugging her the most right then… What she wouldn't give to pull out Jeri's old puppet and stuff it into her mouth so she'd stop sweet talking Takato. It made her so… sick to hear them go on and on about each other, particularly when Jeri sat behind and to the diagonal of Rika, and Takato sat in the fourth row of the set Rika was in. With Rika herself in the second…

She sighed and set her head on her arms, partially mesmerized by the ever-repeating pattern of the raindrops outside. Suddenly she shot up, sitting straight as quickly as possible without attracting attention, and spun partially around in her chair. That kid in the opposite corner was starting to bug her… She kept getting this sinking sensation that he, or at least someone in his corner of the room, was staring at her. But he had his head propped on one arm and was staring drowsily into the front of the room. He was new to their class, and had come from… Wherever, Rika couldn't remember, to join their class the Monday before. She couldn't even remember what his name had been… she'd been fairly out of it all week, and had finally taken half of Tuesday and all of Wednesday off to recover.

Everyone had expected her to love Valentine's Day, all those who didn't know her at least. When she wasn't in the restricting grayish school uniform, she still always wore a shirt which, thanks to her mom's ingenuity a few years earlier, now always bore a blue heart on the front. Her trademark to most anymore, who didn't know her as the yin-yang and purple jeans girl she liked to be.

She glanced back over at the new kid's desk. He was still staring at the teacher. As she watched, her stretched and yawned, glancing at her from one corner of his eye and halting, half closing one eye in a questioning expression at Rika. She was about to shrug innocently and turn back around… but a lock of his deep crimson hair tumbled down over his eye at that moment. It was suddenly clear to her that it wasn't actually his natural hair color, that it was obviously dyed… she froze, somehow referencing the moment to a TV with maladjusted color knobs. He blinked at her, soft gray eyes shining at her as he shook his head in semi-annoyance and smirked, leaning back onto his hand.

Rika started to turn back towards the front of the room…

When the bell rang. A low roar erupted from the students as desks began to shift around the room and Valentines were tossed between girlfriend and boyfriend, etc.. Jeri grabbed Rika's desk and pulled it over beside hers before she could even finish standing up from it. "Take a break, will ya?" she scolded, stepping away from her desk and going back to where it had originally sat for her stuff. Jeri merely stuck her tongue out and continued adjusting the tables. "Please don't point that thing at me. I don't know, nor do I want to know, where it has been."

"Not too bad!" Kazu interrupted. "I've taught you well!"

"You've taught me nothing, visor kid…" she snarled, pulling the item he still wore at all possible occasions from his messy hair and whacking him with it before throwing it back to him. She sighed and sat down on the back of her chair, feet on the seat, and opened the brown paper sack her lunch was in. An envelope tumbled out…

"Another one, huh Rika?"

"Be quiet, all of you," she shot back, reading over the letter and holding her breath as she did. Like before, it was blank, this time it was clear that the drawing the Calumon was working on had originally been a broken heart and he was trying to fix it. the outline of the paper he was drawing on was now visible as well… And there was another, simple message inside.

"Ri',

Somehow, somewhere in my heart I know that you're still mine…

Love Forever,

Keep on guessing"

"Hey, cute drawing!" Jeri grinned, standing up to attempt reading over Rika's shoulder.

"Reminds me of something I saw Suzy drawing once," Kenta suggested, stealing a bite of Kazu's rice at that moment.

"Yes, it does look exactly like her drawing style…" Alice continued, giggling as Kazu swatted at Kenta with his chopsticks. "She really was a great artist, ne?" the others nodded.

"Hey, does anyone know anything about that new kid?" Rika said suddenly, finally speaking once more. She blinked a few times, staring over at the crimson haired boy, then glancing down at the letter again.

"You don't honestly think that some random guy, to whom we've never spoken to, would be sending you Valentines?"

"No, no, I guess not…"

**********

"Rika? Are you ok?"

"Hmm?" She was walking along, alone, through the rain, and wasn't expecting anyone to be there. "Yeah, I'm fine Alice…" she sighed, continuing to stare straight ahead. She smiled softly as she felt the rain running over her face… it was so calming, so gentle…

"You haven't seemed yourself today…"

"I guess I've just still got that cold…" she stopped and stared as she saw someone on a bike dart away from her house. His hair shone as if it was on fire even in the current dim light caused by the clouds. He glanced backwards at her, their eyes locking even from that extreme distance. Streaks of dark were beginning to appear in his hair now though, making its probability of being dyed even higher. "It's that guy again…"

"How can you be sure? I've seen more than a fair share of people with red hair this week," Alice sighed, shaking her head. She also was semi-offended by today's festival of pink and red, but only because she much preferred black, as her outfit clearly showed. Her blonde hair looked almost comical against the dark background of her clothes and the dimly lit gray of the day's sky, but she was very persistent on things being as natural as possible. She refused to dye her hair or use makeup, and was tempted recently to stop cutting her hair entirely.

"I don't know. I just… feel it. Don't you?" Alice shrugged and, for the first time either one could remember, gave Rika a look simply like she was crazy.

"I'll see you tomorrow," she said, turning down the last street before Rika's block. Rika nodded and kept walking, turning through her gate and up her walk.

"Renamon?" she yelled, before even bothering to take her shoes off. The fox appeared next to her instantly. "Was there anyone here earlier?"

"No. Why?"

"Renamon…" she said in an almost sing song voice, signaling that she was very irritated.

"There was no one, Rika. There was however, this," she held out a plain white envelope, identical to both the earlier ones. Rika tore it from her paw and stared at it cruelly for a moment.

"When did this get here?"

"At least an hour ago," Renamon stated simply, turning to leave. "Anything else?"

"That will be all…" Rika watched as her digimon dematerialized before her eyes. She quickly dashed off to her room, sitting down on her bed, and staring at the envelope. She didn't know what she expected, whether it would start telling her all the answers or something, but she just stared at it. Slowly she opened it, slipping her finger under the flap and taking her time this time, and stared for even longer at the picture on the cover. Now the Calumon, by now with blue and red smudges on his face, was holding up his picture, backside of the picture pointed towards the front of the card, examining it carefully. She opened it slowly, staring at the statement inside, another line in a possibly endless poem.

"Rika,

I saw the way you looked, you know it's me, just give me one more sign.

Yours Forever,

You'll know soon"

She stared breathlessly for the next few minutes at the card. Tears slowly appeared in her eyes before she fell backwards on her bed and rolled over, crying, hugging her face into her pillow. "You're a jerk, whoever you are! You're trying to make me think it's him, that he's back, when I know he never will be…" she screamed, muffling the sound with the pillow. She threw the card aside fiercely and rolled over, staring at the ceiling for a moment. Slowly she turned her head to face the door… the rain was still falling…

She gasped once and ran, shoving the door open and then shut again in one motion, racing out into the rain. She opened her eyes as wide as she could and stared straight up, into the clouds. She loved the rain… There was only one thing she loved more than the rain, and someone was mocking her about it… so she would stay here, with the one of her two favorite things that was guaranteed to never leave her permanently. She slowly fell to her knees, then stood back up equally slowly, wandering over to the bridge over her small pond.

Rika lay there, feet and head each over one side of the bridge, staring into the pond and at the ripples the rain made in the water. The rain was slowing, which bothered her. The rain couldn't leave her, not right now…

The steady clack of the gears of a bicycle brought her back to her senses, then there was a small bump of something against wood… then nothing… Thinking it was only an illusion, she went back to watching the ripples. Slowly and quietly, a shadow appeared over one section of the pond. One last rain drop fell into the pond… Rika sat up, looking ahead… there stood a boy, his jacket partially stained red. His hair was a deep blue, and soaking wet, the ends slightly red, the same shade as the stains, as if the color was seeping from his hair. Rika stood up all the way… He pulled an envelope from his pocket and tossed it to her, as if it were a card. The tears were already welling in her eyes as she slowly came to the realization…

The Calumon, this time, held up his drawing proudly. The heart was surrounded by red and pink scribbles, traditional Valentine's colors. But the heart itself was a swirl of blue and green. The symbolic colors of herself, and the boy she loved…

"Rika,

Please don't cry my love, I'm here now, together _we'll_ be just fine.

Forever starts now,

It's really me"

She looked up from the card, the figure now gone, and started to spin around in a panic, the tears streaming freely down her face now. Instead, she ended up running straight into a red-stained jacket.

"It's me…"

"Henry…" she whispered, realizing that the rain had stopped as she leaned up to kiss him, his arms holding her to him tightly.

The rain had left… but the one thing she loved more had returned…

^^ I'm actually proud of that one. And now I'm writing a song off that poem. I certainly hope everyone's entered(ing) my Valentine's contest, it's Jenki, Jurato, and/or Hirota. CulumonLyra@aol.com. Deadline is the 17th. Oh, and Review this please!!! Ja ne to heiwa, ai Lyra-chan


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